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Byline: Bulent. Cetin, Ipek. Gonul, Ozge. Gumusay, Baris. Afsar, Irem. Bilgetekin, Ahmet. Ozet, Aytug. Uner Objective: Sunitinib is a novel oral multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor with antitumor and antiangiogenic activities. [...]

Byline: Hayriye. Sahinli, Ahmet. Özet Background: Short-term survival rates are reported in the patients undergoing percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD). The purpose of this study was to determine the factors [...]

Byline: Hayriye. Sahinli, Nalan. Akyürek, Mukaddes. Yilmaz, Olcay. Kandemir, Ayse. Duran, Sezer. Kulaçoglu, Gökhan. Uçar, Elif. Acar, Ahmet. Özet, O. Öksüzoglu, Nuriye. Özdemir Purpose: Programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) is the [...]

Byline: Efnan. Algin, Meltem. Baykara, Guldal. Yilmaz, Bulent. Cetin, Ozgur. Ekinci, Aytug. Uner, Ahmet. Ozet Purpose: Helicobacter pylori(HP) is a significant causative agent of gastric cancer (GC). However, the underlying [...]

Byline: Aydin. Aytekin, Ahmet. Ozet, Irem. Bilgetekin, Betul. Ogut, Aydin. Ciltas, Mustafa. Benekli Histiocytic sarcoma (HS) is an extremely rare and aggressive hematopoietic tumor. Although it can be seen at [...]

Byline: Hakan. Kocoglu, Mustafa. Karaca, Deniz. Tural, Erhan. Hocaoglu, Yildiz. Okuturlar, Zeynep. Fetullahoglu, Meral. Gunaldi, Rumeysa. Ciftci, Savas. Tuna, Orhan. Yuce, Gulsum. Ozet, Ahmet. Ozet, Mustafa. Benekli Objective: Hepatitis B [...]

Byline: Mustafa. Karaca, Hakan. Kocoglu, Irem. Bilgetekin, Ahmet. Ozet, Hayriye. Sahinli, Hacer. Demir, Aykut. Kankoc, Deniz. Tural, Orhan. Yucel Cardiac side effects of targeted chemotherapy agents are getting more and [...]

The rapid spread of COVID-19 infection and its negative effects on human health caused a great change in oncology practice. Although oncologists respond quickly to this change, anxiety caused by pandemics in some patients prevented cancer treatment. Although patients know that delaying cancer treatment can be life-threatening, they are concerned about contacting the hospital because they are afraid of becoming infected with COVID-19. Here, we would like to present three patients with delayed admission to the hospital to draw attention to the harmful consequences of COVID-19 fear in the community. These patients with cancer-related anxiety may exaggerate protective attitudes during the pandemic process, leading to delayed oncological treatment and poor prognosis of the patient.

Byline: Ozge. Gumusay, Guldal. Yilmaz, Utku. Aydil, Ahmet. Ozet, Gulnihal. Tufan, Ozlem. Erdem, Yusuf. Kizil, Mustafa. Benekli In the head and neck mucosa, neuroendocrine carcinomas of the oral cavity is [...]

Byline: Meltem. Baykara, Gokhan. Kurt, Suleyman. Buyukberber, Umut. Demirci, Necdet. Ceviker, Efnan. Algin, Ugur. Coskun, Sukru. Aykol, Hakan. Emmez, Ahmet. Ozet, Mustafa. Benekli Purpose: The purpose of the following study [...]

Carcinoma erysipeloides (CE) is a rare form of cutaneous metastasis appearing similar to erysipelas or cellulitis. Due to its rarity, little is known about CE.

Angiogenesis plays a major role not only in the growth of the primary tumor, but also in metastasis. Due to the angiogenesis in granulation tissue, the tumor cells easily migrate to and locate in this region, thereby accelerating the pathological angiogenesis process and proliferation via presence of the angiogenesis-stimulating factors in this site.

Aims and background We assessed the therapeutic results and tolerability of postoperative chemoradiotherapy with either oral UFT or 5-fluorouracil for carcinoma of the stomach.Methods and study design Forty-six patients treated with chemoradiotherapy following total or subtotal gastrectomy for gastric carcinoma formed the cohort evaluated. The group included 39 males and 7 females whose ages ranged from 21 to 74 years (median, 53 years). In all patients, surgical therapy was the initial approach with a curative intent. The types of operations performed were total gastrectomy in 11 or subtotal gastrectomy in 35 patients. Radiotherapy began from 14 to 161 days after surgery (median, 55 days). Twenty patients received concomitant oral UFT (200 mg/m2), and 26 patients were given 5-fluorouracil (425 mg/m2, iv bolus) concurrently with irradiation consisting of one or two cycles, usually as a 3-day bolus at the start and last 3 days of irradiation therapy for radiosensitizing purposes. The patients were treated using either cobalt-60 or 6 MV photons, and irradiation doses delivered to the tumor bed and regional lymphatics ranged from 40 to 50 Gy (median, 46 Gy).Results Median follow-up for the entire group was 24 months (range, 2–67). The 2-year overall survival of the entire group of patients was 64%. The 2-year overall survival rates for 5-fluorouracil and oral UFT groups were 72% and 66%, respectively (P = 0.3). Treatment-related factors were reviewed to identify any impact on survival. Analyses included type of surgery and dissection, fraction size, the total dose of irradiation and the type of chemotherapy. A significant detrimental effect in survival in the patients treated with D2 dissection compared to the patients treated with D1 dissection was noted (P = 0.01). Overall grade II-III toxicity of oral UFT was significantly lower than 5-FU (4 patients vs 14 patients, P = 0.03).Conclusions Concomitant use of oral UFT with radiation seems to be more tolerable and an equally effective regimen in the treatment of locally advanced gastric cancer compared with 5-fluorouracil. D2 dissection was found to have detrimental effects on survival in this cohort.

This study was designed to measure the frequency at which Turkish patients with cancer resort to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). A total of 704 patients referred to the Gu¨lhane Military Medical Academy and Ankara Numune Training Hospital between September 2002 and January 2003 were asked about the CAM therapies they used. Of these, 276 patients (39.2%) had used CAM. Gender, marital status, educational status, age, financial status, severity of pain, history of cancer in the family, and their own ideas concerning CAM therapies were found to be correlated with the frequency of resorting to CAM. Resorting to CAM may lead to delayed diagnosis and treatment, adverse drug interactions, treatment withdrawal, and disease progression. Therefore, it is very important to inform patients about these potential dangers. Further studies are needed to clarify the reasons that lead patients to resort to CAM.

Nephrotoxicity is one of the most frequent dose-limiting factors of high-dose chemotherapy to create tolerance of autologous peripheral blood stem-cell transplantation (PBSCT) for the treatment of malignant diseases. The relative importance of factors that may be responsible for the development of nephrotoxicity varied in different trials.

We report an extremely rare case of a patient with clear cell carcinoma of the cervix who had no history of in utero diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure. Although clear cell adenocarcinoma is an uncommon tumor, it must be considered in the differential diagnosis in young women and children who have cervico-vaginal lesions even without in utero DES exposure history. We present the case of 2 girls, a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old, who were admitted to hospital because of intermittent vaginal bleeding and the presence of a cervical mass diagnosed as clear cell cervix carcinoma. Neither of them had a history of exposure to DES.

Meningeal carcinomatosis (MC) is a rare presentation of solid tumors, particularly breast cancer, lung cancer, and malignant melanoma. Recently, the incidence of MC has been reported to be increasing. It has a bad prognosis despite aggressive therapy. The usual clinical presentation is multifocal involvement of the neuraxis, with headache and radicular pain being the most common initial symptoms. The most frequent signs are motor deficits, altered mental status, and cranial nerve involvement. The treatment of MC remains controversial and no straightforward guidelines exist in the literature. MC from urinary bladder tumors is rare. In this case report, we present a 52-year-old male patient with meningeal metastasis from a primary urinary bladder carcinoma along with a review of the related literature.

Aims and Background Leptin is a protein that affects the metabolic, neuroendocrine, reproductive and hematopoietic systems and is involved in the regulation of body weight. The possible role of leptin in cancer patients, whose aforementioned systems show disorders at various levels, has been investigated by only a few studies and the results are quite contradictory.Methods In this study serum leptin levels were investigated in 36 patients with colon cancer having no weight loss or anorexia and in 36 healthy volunteers. Serum leptin levels were measured by radioimmunoassay.Results Significantly positive correlations were found between serum leptin level and/or body mass index (BMI) in patient and control groups (r = 0.842, P <0.001 and r = 0.785, P <0.001; r = 0.880, P <0.001 and r = 0.523, P = 0.001). Serum leptin levels of colon cancer patients were significantly lower than those of the control group (8.79 vs 15.95 ng/mL, P = 0.003). BMI and age of the colon cancer patients were not different from those of the control group. Serum leptin levels of early-stage patients (n = 15) did not differ from those of advanced-stage patients (n = 21) (7.74 vs 9.54 ng/mL, P = 0.542), nor was there any difference in the serum leptin levels of patients who did and patients who did not receive chemotherapy. There was no correlation in cancer patients between serum leptin levels and CEA or CA19-9 (r = 0.015, P = 0.929 and r = 0.097, P = 0.574).Conclusion Low serum leptin levels found in colon cancer patients without weight loss suggest that another mechanism regulating the leptin levels might be responsible.

The main method of fighting against colon cancer is targeted treatment. BRAF inhibitors, which are accepted as standard treatment for V600E mutant malign melanomas, are the newest approach for targeted treatment of V600E mutant colorectal cancers. In this case report, we share our experience about the use of BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib on a V600E mutant metastatic right colon adenocarcinoma patient. A 59-year-old male with only lung multiple metastatic V600E mutant right colon cancer presented to our clinic. The patient was evaluated and FOLFOX + bevacizumab treatment was initiated, which was then continued with vemurafenib. A remarkable response was achieved with vemurafenib treatment in which the drug resistance occurred approximately in the sixth month. Even though the patient benefited majorly from vemurafenib, he died on the 20th month of the diagnosis. The expected overall survival for metastatic V600E mutant colon adenocarcinoma patients is 4.7 months. BRAF inhibitors provide new treatment alternatives for V600E mutant colorectal cancers, with prolonged overall survival. BRAF inhibitors in combination with MEK inhibitors are reported as feasible treatment to overcome BRAF inhibitor drug resistance on which phase studies are still in progress. To conclude, BRAF inhibitors alone or in combination with other drugs provide a chance for curing BRAF V600E mutant colorectal cancer patients.